Dr. Daniel Porterfield, center, meets with LEDA Cohort 13 Scholars
On Thursday, July 6, Dr. Daniel Porterfield, President of Franklin & Marshall College, visited LEDA’s Aspects of Leadership Summer Institute to meet our LEDA Cohort 13 Scholars. Dr. Porterfield is also a member of LEDA’s Leadership Council and a passionate advocate for expanding access to higher education, increasing diversity at our nation’s colleges, and finding innovative and effective approaches to the challenges being discussed in the national higher education community. Dr. Porterfield is a founding member of the Steering Committee for the American Talent Initiative, which is dedicated to substantially expanding opportunity and access for low- and moderate-income students, and has written extensively about the positive impact that supporting students like our LEDA Scholars will have not only on their lives, but on our society.
Key themes of Dr. Porterfield’s remarks were live-Tweeted by LEDA Scholar Sammie, who joined him on stage and served as his guest Tweeter on his account during his visit. Click here for our Twitter Moment to see what resonated with Sammie.
During his opening remarks and the following question-and-answer session during his time with the LEDA Community, Dr. Porterfield reflected on his longstanding commitment to expanding the enterprise of higher education, initiatives and partnerships he has created to do so, and why LEDA Scholars play a crucial role in these endeavors. “At Franklin & Marshall, we have developed a talent-based strategy, and you, LEDA Scholars, are the talent.” He also encouraged our Scholars to demonstrate leadership by fully owning their education. “You can be given opportunity, but you, and only you, have the power to create your education.” Dr. Porterfield closed the session by challenging our Scholars to always strive for excellence – one of LEDA’s Core Values – and practice leadership by using the education, talent, skills, and experience they develop to empower disenfranchised people and always strive to expand their reach.